One billion Android phones to ship in 2017

It is no secret that smartphone sales are booming, with Android leading the pack, and things are about to get even more serious.

Canalys now estimates that smartphone shipments will hit 1.5 billion units in 2017. Feature phones are dying out and they will account for just 27 percent of the market by then.

Android will emerge as the big winner, with 67.1 percent of the market, or roughly a billion units in 2017. Shipments of Android phones in 2012 were estimated at 470 million and the figure is set to more than double over the next five years.

Meanwhile Apple’s share is expected to drop from 19.5 percent last year to 14.1 percent in 2017. As more feature phone users turn to smartphones, they are likely to go for entry level or mid range devices, and Android still reigns supreme in these market segments.